Edgar peckham



(No Model.)

B. PEGKHAM.

' OAR TRUCK. No. 599,474. Patented Feb. 22,1898.

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EDGAR PEOKHAM, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

CAR-TRUCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 599,474, dated February 22, 1898.

Application filed April 6, 1897. $erial No. 630,938. (No model.)

To (0Z5 whom, it may concern;

Be it known that I, EDGAR PECKHAM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Trucks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to trucks for supporting the car-bodies of cars used in the operation of electric, cable, and other streetrailways, the invention being designed more particularly for car-bodies, whether open or closed, of extended lengths.

An important object of the invention is to render it practicable to employ a single truck with a short wheel-base for carrying a carbody of unusual length.

By my improvements I obtain in a truck having a short wheel-base every advantage of a truck having an unusual length of wheelbase, while at the same time avoiding the well-known disadvantages of a truck having a long wheel-base.

I am also enabled by the present improvements to properly support by braces the ends of a car-body of unusual length without increasing the height of the car-platform above the track. As the length of a car-body increases the greater is the difficulty of supporting it properly at its ends without increasing the height of the car-platform above the track. The resistance offered by any truss to bending varies directly as the cube of its depth. It would therefore be an easy matter to so support the car-body sills that it would be impossible for them to drop down at the ends under heavy loads if the carplatforms were raised sufficiently high above the level of the track; but as the distance between the track and the lower edge of the car-sill is necessarily limited in all streetrailway traffic it becomes a problem of some difficulty to support the ends of car-bodies of extended lengths without enlarging the wheelbase of single trucks to such an extent as to render the same practically unsuitable for the service intended.

I remedy the difficulty above mentioned and adapt single trucks of usual dimensions and wheel-bases for car-bodies of extended lengths by means of the present improvements.

My invent-ion is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of an extra long truck built according to inventions for which I have heretofore obtained Letters Patent and having applied thereto the improvements for which I now seek protection. Fig. 2 is a side view of one end of the truck-frame without the supplemental spiral spring at the end, as seen in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail of a part of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the side frame of the truck comprises longitudinal beams 2 3, riveted, respectively, to the upper and lower inside members of the pedestals 4, thus connecting the pedestals the requisite distance apart so as to give the required wheel-base of six and a half or seven feet, as is usual in single car-trucks. To the outside arms of the pedestals there are riveted the extended end beams 5, which support elliptic springs 6 contiguous to the pedestals and spiral springs '7 in front of the elliptic springs.

In Fig. 1,which shows the truck-frame adapted for extra long car-bodies, the extended ends of the beams 5 are equipped with spiral springs S to insure additional elastic support for the car-body. Suit-able springs, as 9, may also be supported on the beam 2, as shown. All of these springs are connected to the top chord 10 of the truck-frame, upon which chord the car-sills 11 are mounted and secured. Beneath the extended end beams 5 of the truckframe there are arranged the truss-beams 12, riveted to the bottoms of the yokes 4E and to said extended end beams 5. The journalboxes are shown at 4: and are arranged to operate between the limbs of the pedestals in the usual manner. Between the tops of the journal boxes 4 and the upper horizontal members of pedestals 4: are placed graduated spiral springs 4", whereby the truck-frame is spring-cushioned on the car-axles and pounding and crystallization of the rail-joints prevented.

To the truck-frame as described-it being understood, of course, that both side frames of the truck are in all respects alike, the drawings representing one of such side framesthere are applied in a novel manner longitudinal and diagonal extension rods 13, per

forming a useful purpose not before accomplished in this character of structure. The rods 13 extend longitudinally beneath the lower members at each side of the trucksecured. The rods 13 thus serve,at each side of the truck-frame, in conjunction with the car-sills, as a supplemental truss supported on the trussed structure of the truck-frame, the support of this supplemental truss on the truck-frame being a flexible one.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the horizontal portions of rods 13 do not terminate near the pedestals of the truckframe, but extend beyond to the end of the truck-frame or to the point of connection of its under truss member 12 with the horizontal end beam 5, and they are stayed to the carsills by bolts 14, passing through openings in the pedestals and connected to the car-sills by means of the longitudinal chords 10, to which the car-sills 11 are secured. Such bolts 14 may, however, be secured directly to the car-sills. The rods 13 are further stayed to the car-sills by bolts 15, which pass through the spiral springs 7 at or near the ends of the truck-frame. Surrounding the lower ends of the bolts 15, at the ends of the tru ck-frame, are spiral springs 16, which, together with the springs arranged between the end beams of the truck-frame and its top chord 10, upon which rest the car-sills and to which are connected the stay-bolts 14, provide the necessary flexible connection of the supplemental bridge-truss, (formed in part of said extension-rods 13.)

The points of suspension of the rods 13 by the bolts 15 are near the ends of the car-body when the latter is mounted on the truck, thus providing a desired support to the car-body at such points. The angle of the truss extension-rods is not changed in any way to secure a longer support, but being dropped lower they give a wider base of support to the car-body than would otherwise be possible.

The various parts of the truck-frame are connected together with hot rivets, and all the bearings and bolts are machinefitted, thus obtaining substantial'and accurate workmanship.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a car-truck, the combination with side frames comprising pedestals, longitudinal beams connecting said pedestals together, longitudinal end beams at each end of the pedestals, under truss-beams secured to the bottoms of the pedestals and to said end beams and an upper longitudinal chord, of longitudinal rods supported by the side frames beneath their lower members and extending beyond the pedestals to the points of connection of said under truss-beams with said end beams, stay-bolts connecting said longitudinal chord with said longitudinal rods and passing through the end beams of the truckframe at the points of connection of the latter with said under truss-beams, and springs surrounding said stay-bolts above and below said end beams.

2. In a car-truck, the combination with side frames comprising pedestals, longitudinal beams connecting said pedestals together, longitudinal end beams at each end of the pedestals, under truss-beams secured to the bottoms of the pedestals and to said end beams and an upper longitudinal chord, of longitudinal rods supported by the side frames beneath their lower members and extending beyond the pedestals to the points of connection of said under truss-beams with said end beams, stay-bolts connecting said longitudinal chord with said longitudinal rods and passing through the end beams of the truckframe at the points of connection of the latter with said under truss-beams, springs surrounding said stay-bolts above and below said end beams, and elliptic springs mounted on the end beams between the pedestals and said stay-bolts.

Signed at New York, in the county and State of New York, this 20th day of February, 1897.

EDGAR PEOKHAM.

Witnesses:

CHAS. S. AOKLEY, GEO. H. BOWERS. 

